National Zoo celebrates panda's first birthday

ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 24, 2014 12:01 AM

Panda cub Bao Bao hangs from a tree in her habitat at the National Zoo in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014. Today marks her first birthday and the the zoo is marking the event with a traditional 'Zhuazhou' ceremony, a Chinese birthday tradition symbolizing long life to mark the event. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 24, 2014 12:01 AM

WASHINGTON -- The National Zoo in Washington threw a party Saturday in honor of the first birthday of panda cub Bao Bao.

To celebrate, the cub got a cake made from frozen fruit juice and other treats like pears and apples. Bao Bao is only the second panda born at the zoo to survive to her first birthday.

The cub's only sibling, brother Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010. Panda keeper Nicole MacCorkle says Bao Bao has been different from her brother, including a little more stand-offish.

In the past year she has grown from a wriggling pink newborn a little bigger than a stick of butter to a 44-pound black-and-white bundle whose favorite activity is sleeping in a tree. A hemlock tree in the front of her yard is one favorite, and she also likes wrestling with a blue cylinder-shaped buoy filled with sand, MacCorkle said. The cub, whose name means "precious" or "treasure," has also started eating solid food like sweet potato and bamboo and recently got her first taste of honey.

She's also learned behaviors that help keepers monitor her health. including getting on a scale and standing up when asked.